This is coming from a girl that has been gone for nearly five months. That’s right, a blogger took 5 months away from her blog. I broke rule number one – stay consistent, and it was all for taking a life-cleanse.

For a while, I felt like I was in a rut in my life. I found myself stuck and lacking creativity. While my writing was where it was most visible, it wasn’t the only part of my life that suffered. I lacked creativity in the way I carried myself, the way my conversations flowed, and in my career. I knew I had to do something to do get back myself, and that meant taking a step back.

While I didn’t mean for it to extend this long, I took five months “off.” Five months spent reexamining my life. Five months figuring out who I was. Five months doing what I needed to do in order to be the best Kat I could be. After five months, I believe I can truthfully say, I’m back to me.

As a girl that took five months undergoing a life-cleanse, I learned quite a few things about how to execute one.

Take a step back to examine yourself
In marketing, there’s a strategic planning technique, called a SWOT Analysis. The acronym SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You typically conduct this technique when planning a mode of action for a business. If you do decide to take a life-cleanse, it’s so important to give yourself an assessment. Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. From there, you can ask yourself what’s threatening you. It doesn’t necessarily mean physically, but what about mentally. Are there any opportunities for you to grow? When you’re answering these questions, be honest. I asked myself if I could truly say I was happy or if I enjoyed the person who I was becoming in the recent days. When I looked at myself in the mirror and said no, I knew that there needed to be an immediate change.

Find out what you need to change
After your personalized SWOT Analysis, you’re ready to take your first mode of action – finding out what needs to be changed. If you’re thinking about doing a life-cleanse, there’s undoubtedly something that needs to be changed in your life. Should you start making more time for yourself? Perhaps you need more time with family or friends? Find out what needs to be done for you to be happy. As I came to the realization that I wasn’t happy, I decided I needed to cut my stressors. While I welcome stress because it drives me to want to go harder, I found that I was stressed about everything – friends, family, finances, and my career. I realized that I took a lot of time from my day to agonize over each of these aspects, but never really took time to grab the reigns and take control of the various situations I was going through. I knew I needed to finally speak up and work through everything that was wrong.

Close down Instagram
This step isn’t limited to Instagram alone. This step refers to anything that you define as a stressor in your life. Whatever it is – you need to shut it down. We all know social media while being such a gift, can also cause a lot of anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. Already being at a point where I wasn’t the most confident in my work, I knew it was unhealthy for me to be exposed to so many people that seemed to have it all together. Because of that, I decided to close the app. As an avid Instagrammer, I thought that not posting for a week (let alone five months) would be the death of me. Surprisingly, I weened myself off and was able to free myself from the constant anxieties of if my feed was aesthetically pleasing or if I remembered to post a story.

Get a change of scenery
It’s been said that traveling makes you feel better and as one that recently traveled to the other side of the world, I can attest to this. According to Forbes, the benefits of travel are endless. While boosting creativity and happiness, it can help you reinvent yourself. I did just that when three friends and I traveled to Tokyo. I let myself forget worries back home and focused on living in the moment. It was such a wonderful experience that I’m so grateful for.

Come back stronger than ever
Before leaving for Japan, I had some anxiety about coming back. I was worried that more things would pile up and I’d be even more stressed out then I was to start out with. While I have to say, I had a lot of work to come back to, coming back I felt more relaxed than I have in a long time. I came back refreshed and clear-minded. Tasks that worried me prior to leaving felt more attainable and it was all because I gave myself time to breathe. When I began taking care of myself and allowing myself, I felt rejuvenated and more efficient.

A life-cleanse is so much more than shutting down Instagram or doing yoga once a week. It has to do with changing your life from the inside out. It’s about learning and changing yourself from the inside to prepare yourself for outside changes. It can take as little as a week for some or even five months, like me. Either way, if you decide to execute a life-cleanse on your own, remember to be honest with yourself and only make room for growth in your future.

I had the amazing opportunity to go to BeautyCon NYC last week with my sister. I decided to bring my camera along to create this vlog for you all who may have missed it.

I had such a great time visiting Brooklyn and learning more about brands, such as FLOWER, Milk, Double Dare, Kiss and so much more! I’ll be doing a blog post soon about all the items I got during the weekend. Bare with me because there were a ton of things that I got my hands on!

Also make sure you follow my sister, Linda P, on YouTube. She’s hilarious and absolutely adorable. You can watch her vlog of the event here!

Thanks so much for watching! Please let me know what you think and if I should continue to do more vlogs!

Here are some pictures from the event!

My sister and I decided to get the Social Package tickets, where we got to meet different beauty gurus, as well as have our very own social lounge! It was super cozy and we got some fabulous pink bean bag chairs.

I went to the Revlon booth and managed to meet ItsMyRaeRae and snag a really beautiful lip color from their new collection!

The Soap and Glory booth was so cute! I got to get a couple of samples of their Sexy Mother Plucker lip glosses. They felt nice for the time I wore it!

Pop Beauty was also super sweet and took some photos of us at their booth. I accidentally walked away with the props though! Whoops!